A 130-year-old Algerian woman arrived in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to perform the annual Hajj 2024. Sarhouda Setit received a warm welcome from Saudi officials at the Airport.
Setit made the journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to participate in the Haj 1445 AH. Saudi Airlines celebrated her arrival as she was the oldest pilgrim to the Kingdom. The Saudi group published about the arrival of the oldest pilgrim from Algeria on its official handle on X (formerly known as Twitter).
130-Year-Old Algerian Woman Gets Warm Welcome in Saudi
According to the Saudi official data, over 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in the country by Tuesday, the vast majority by air, from across the world. More are expected, and hundreds of thousands of Saudis and others living in Saudi Arabia will also join them when the pilgrimage officially begins on Friday.
Saudi officials have said they expect the number of pilgrims this year to exceed 2023, when more than 1.8 million people performed Hajj, approaching pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, more than 2.4 million Muslims made the pilgrimage.
The pilgrims included 4,200 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank who arrived in Mecca earlier this month, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were not able to travel to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year, because of the 8-month war between Israel and Hamas.